Linda Lasota, community relations coordinator for Hands of Hope ministry, says the Joliet Hope Center will offer a hand-up to community members in need.
"It is a faith-based center that is providing a long-term, self-sufficiency solution for the non working and the working who are struggling to make ends meet.
Joliet Hope Center will provide food (frozen, fresh and dry), cleaning, hygiene and miscellaneous household products for people who are members of the center. Members fill out an application and pay a $5 fee for a year membership to shop at the center. They can then shop for products at discounted price for those who qualify.
"You do not have to be a Will County or even a Joliet resident to come," Lasota said.
There are income guidelines, but Lasota said the organization does not just consider numbers, but rather situations. A single parent who has been unemployed for six months but just started a job making $40,000 a year might still be struggling. Even though that family now makes $40,000 a year, the situation of having been unemployed for six months will be considered.
"There is a new category of poor," Lasota said of those who may not at first glance need assistance.
Joliet Hope Center is part of Hands of Hope of Illinois, which was begun in 1999 by Woodie Stiltner, Jr., a local business owner who had the vision of using his trucking company to help those in need. Hands of Hope of Illinois now gives away an average of over 90,000 lbs of food a week given to those in need.
The trucking company warehouse is located in Joliet and Stiltner decided he wanted to open a Hope Center, one of only two in the United States.
"When people have hope, they have everything," Lasota said.
Joliet Help Center is located at 511 Oak Leaf Court, Unit A in Joliet.
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